Jealousy
For a while, Violet-san held me in her arms.
Eventually, she released me and spoke.
“Rodwell-sama, I’m terribly sorry for hugging you so suddenly.”
“N-no! I-it’s fine!!”
I’d been startled by how sudden it was, and with various things pressing against me, it’d honestly been embarrassing, but…
At least when it came to Violet-san hugging me, I didn’t feel anything like discomfort. Not wanting to make her worry unnecessarily, I hurried to reassure her.
“Thank you… then, I think it’s about time I headed home.”
“Huh? Already…?”
It didn’t feel like much time had passed since Violet-san arrived at the mansion.
“Yes. I was actually thinking of staying a little longer, but…”
After looking away from me and glancing behind me, Violet-san returned her gaze to me and continued.
“It seems it’d be best for me to head back now.”
“I see… understood.”
I really did want to talk a bit more, but I couldn’t bring myself to stop Violet-san, who was surely extremely busy as Felisiana-sama’s attendant.
“And as an aside, the flowers Ojou-sama said she purchased from you yesterday are being arranged very carefully in her private room at the royal castle.”
“Wha!? R-really!?”
“Yes. She could’ve left something like arranging flowers to me, but Ojou-sama did it herself.”
Felisiana-sama did…!
“That makes me so happy! Please tell Felisiana-sama thank you for me!”
“I don’t believe Ojou-sama would seek thanks over something like that, but I’ll be sure to pass it along.”
“Thank you very much!”
After that, Siana and I saw Violet-san off as she left the mansion.
Then the two of us went back inside, talked a little, and returned to our own rooms.
Siana’s Side
“Violet.”
After entering her room, Siana called Violet’s name with a sharper tone than usual.
And then…
“Yes, Ojou-sama.”
Standing before Siana was Violet, who had somehow already changed into her black hooded coat.
“Yes, Ojou-sama isn’t the point! What was that selfish behavior of yours today supposed to mean!?”
“I sincerely apologize. However, if you’ll excuse me for saying so, hadn’t that matter already been forgiven just a short while ago?”
By “a short while ago,” she meant…
The moment when Violet whispered into the ear of an angry Siana, saying, “If you’ll allow me a bit of time to speak with Rodwell-sama here, I’ll also tell him something that will improve Ojou-sama’s impression.” Violet had carried that out properly.
Incidentally, what she said wasn’t a lie. Siana truly had arranged the flowers she bought from Lux with her own hands in her private room at the royal castle.
“It’s true that seeing Lux-kun look so happy after hearing about me was really nice, but that doesn’t mean I said it was fine for you to hug him! And what were you thinking when you kept going even after I tried to stop you!?”
“I hadn’t planned to go that far today either, but after hearing Rodwell-sama speak, I couldn’t stop myself… I’m truly sorry.”
“…Haa, fine. There’s no point dwelling on what’s already happened.”
In her heart, she added that she understood all too well how hard it was to keep one’s self-control in front of Lux.
“More importantly, it’s about Elizalina-anesama now. You’re ready, aren’t you?”
“Without any oversight.”
“Very well. You’ll wait in this room for a bit.”
“Understood.”
Saying that, Siana left her room and headed for Lux’s room.
“…”
There was no point dwelling on what had already happened, she’d said, but… Siana’s jealousy still wasn’t something she could suppress so easily.